


serendipity

by abbygriffinm



Category: La casa de papel | Money Heist (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M, Flashbacks, Old Friends, Old Lovers, Reunion, Wedding, beach wedding, youngserquel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-12
Updated: 2021-02-12
Packaged: 2021-03-12 18:13:58
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,321
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29388951
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/abbygriffinm/pseuds/abbygriffinm
Summary: Raquel attends her best friend Monica's wedding.However, it never occurs to her that the wedding will bring her the man she hasn't seen in such a long time.Sergio.
Relationships: Raquel Murillo/Professor | Sergio Marquina
Comments: 15
Kudos: 37





	serendipity

**Author's Note:**

> the idea of writing this has been spinning in my head for a very long time. Even though I am not experienced in writing at all, I wanted to give it a chance. I'd love to hear what you think.
> 
> Thank you so much Moniek for helping me with every step of this.
> 
> Enjoy! :)

Observing people from a distance has always been Raquel’s thing. She doesn’t know whether it has become a habit because of her job or not, but ever since she can remember, she’s found herself observing people on various occasions, mostly while eating at a restaurant or seated in a room full of people as if trying to determine with a single look what they are thinking and what their stories are.

That is exactly what she is doing right now, sitting in a corner at her friend Monica’s wedding with a glass of wine in hand, as far away from people as possible. She briefly closes her eyes, the sounds of the waves a sweet melody to her ears and the soothing feeling of sand under her bare feet making her sleepy.

Raquel turns her head to the side to look at the dancing couples, accompanied by live music. One couple especially catches her eyes. She notices the way the woman puts her head on her partner’s shoulder, her eyes closed and a smile on her face. They seem like they are lost in their own world. That must be how it feels like to attend a wedding with a partner, she thinks to herself. She shakes her head, trying to get rid of that one thought which has been capturing her mind recently. Raquel starts playing with the ring on her finger. A heavy sigh escapes her lips involuntarily.

What is the point of weddings anyway?

Are these people really here to share the happiness of the bride and groom or are they just here to enjoy free food and the beautiful scenery?

Raquel starts having a philosophy conference in her head, forgetting that one specific wedding she attended once, as _the bride._

When she raises her head, she catches her friend’s smiling eyes. Monica waves her hand, trying to get her to dance once again. As much as Raquel enjoyed having a drink by herself, it is time to be a good friend, so she finally gives in, gets her shoes from under the table, and shakes off the sand before reluctantly putting them back on, knowing well enough that she will miss the quiet of the moment as she gets up from the stool.

“Finally, someone decided to move those hips,” Monica says with a huge, pleased grin on her face. “I’m not even going to ask how long you have been sitting there all by yourself.”

Raquel playfully rolls her eyes. “So, you have been spying on me rather than enjoying your wedding day, huh?” she responds and pulls her friend into a tight hug. Seeing the people she loves happy always manages to raise her mood.

“Oh, I am enjoying my day. It is just always good to have company, especially if it is yours,” Monica answers while pulling Raquel into the crowd.

Raquel puts all her thoughts and problems aside as soon as they start dancing. She decides that she deserves to have some fun, just like she used to when she was a teenager. Sometimes she wishes she could go back to those times: her old town, her old house, her old friends and her old…

No. She has just decided to put everything aside. She will not go there. Not now.

Raquel doesn’t know how long they’ve been dancing, but according to her feet that would be swearing at her if they could, it’s time for a break. She leaves Monica’s side by telling her that she will get another drink. She gets rid of her shoes as soon as she steps on the sand.

Ah, that must be real freedom.

She grabs another glass of wine and takes a small sip before making her way towards the sea. Once again, she feels grateful to her friend for choosing this wedding location. She has always enjoyed spending time at the beach; watching the sunset, losing herself in the water… She remembers dreaming of having a beach house one day.

That must be my happy place, she would say all the time.

However, years have shown her that she doesn’t have a happy place, only happy memories that could make any place her happy place, no matter where she is or what she is doing. Take those memories away and she’s left with nothing but longing.

She sits on one of the wooden chairs that have been placed for the wedding. She takes another sip of her wine and closes her eyes to lose herself to the waves’ sweet melody once again.

Raquel feels calm. She feels far away from every problem in her life, from everything that makes her question herself and her life until she hears that familiar voice that she hasn’t heard in ages.

“You know what they say: once a wine lover always a wine lover.”

Raquel forgets how to move; she forgets how to breathe. It takes all her power not to drop that glass in her hand. For a second, she thinks that she is dreaming, but she knows that she is not. She has always created scenarios of this moment in her mind.

If she were dreaming, she would know. She would know because hearing his voice had never felt so real in any of her dreams, in any scenario she created in her mind. It feels so real that she is sure her heart skipped a beat, so real that not even for a second does she contemplate not turning her head, even though she knows that she will see _him_.

She turns slowly as if some unidentifiable power makes her body move for her. She holds her breath the moment she catches his eyes; eyes that she never thought she would see again. She sees him staring at her with a look that matches hers.

His hair, his glasses, his eyes… Everything feels the same. Like it has not been twenty fucking years since the last time she saw him.

He is looking at her, mouth hanging open as if trying to say something or rather trying to figure out how to make a sentence again. Seeing him like this, after all this time, reminds her of that time. The time it all started.

_She was running like crazy, trying to find a place to hide to buy herself some time. She might be eight years old, but she could make her own decisions, right? It wasn’t helping that she was in a hospital, a place she had no idea where she could hide. That’s why she made a decision and opened the first door she saw and stepped inside. She leaned against the door after closing it behind her back, panting._

_“Dad? Are you back already?” said a voice. She slowly walked into the room and saw a boy with glasses, sitting on the hospital bed. He was staring at her with a terrified look as if she were there to murder him and steal those weird pyjamas from him._

_“Oh, hi,” She said with a small voice. Just realizing she stepped into a patient’s room._

_“Who are you?” he said immediately, without giving her a chance to answer, “What are you doing here?”_

_She took a few steps closer to him and rolled her eyes in annoyance. Out of all the rooms she could have chosen… “I’m Raquel. I’m trying to hide.”_

_“Do you know my dad? Did he send you here?” he continued his interrogation._

_“No, and if you can just stop asking questions and help me hide,” she answered in annoyance, with her eyes on the door as if her dad could hear her voice and come inside at any moment._

_“But…” he started, then continued by lowering his voice, remembering her ‘kind’ warning. “Why are you even hiding?”_

_She looked at him again, doubting whether she should tell him or not. “I’m hiding from daddy; he wants to take me back home, but I don’t want to leave mommy here,” Raquel said with a sad voice, remembering the fact that the doctor said her mother needed to stay at the hospital for a few weeks._

_“Oh...” was the only thing he said. She realized that he wasn’t even looking at her. Not knowing how long she needed to stay in that room, she came closer and sat at the edge of the bed. He got even more uncomfortable. He must be too shy, she thought._

_“What’s your name?”_

_“I’m… I’m Sergio.”_

_She smiled for the first time, happy that she was making a new friend._

_“It’s nice to meet you, Sergio. So… can I hide here?” she asked hopefully, not wanting to risk going outside and getting caught by her dad._

_“Uhm… yeah, I think so. My dad just went to talk to my doctor. I don’t think he’ll come back soon,” Sergio answered hesitantly._

_They sat there, on Sergio’s bed, awkwardly; none of them knew what to say next. It was obvious that Sergio wasn’t going to say something any time soon, and she was getting bored._

_“How old are you?” she asked, avoiding the fact that he was not visiting someone like she was._

_“I’m eight,” he said shyly, pushing his glasses back on his nose._

_“Me too!” Raquel answered immediately. She had been around far too many adults lately that talking to someone her age was making her feel better._

_They continued talking for a while. Raquel learned that he had been staying in the hospital for a while now and he was going to stay for a long time, at least that was what he assumed. She learned that he didn’t have any friends here, except his brother who would come to visit him occasionally. She told him her mother had an accident and that’s why she was staying here, that her younger sister was staying with their aunt, and her father wanted Raquel to go back home too, but she didn’t want that._

_They asked each other a few more questions. It was mostly Raquel doing the talking. She told him about her favourite game, her favourite colour; so did Sergio._

_“I think I can go now. Daddy must have realized that I’ll not leave my mother.” She got up from the bed, walking to the door slowly. She saw from the corner of her eyes that Sergio opened his mouth as if deciding whether he should say something. She turned to him, without waiting for him to speak. “Uhm, Sergio?”_

_He looked at her, waiting for her to continue._

_“Can we play sometime? I am bored, and I don’t have friends here either. Maybe we can be friends?”_

_Sergio smiled for the first time since she entered the room. “I’d love that.”_

_A huge smile appeared on her face. She always loved making new friends, but he was different from all the friends she had. She did not know why, she just felt it. Maybe it is the pyjamas, she thought. Without giving it much thought, Raquel ran to Sergio and kissed him on the cheek. “Thank you for letting me hide here. I’ll see you later, Sergio,” she said and left the room running, leaving a blushing and smiling Sergio behind._

Raquel still can’t believe that the boy who helped her hide many moons ago, is standing right in front of her, with the same expression on his face, making her feel everything she had felt the first day they met. She doesn’t realize that her lips are moving, out of control, as if trying to get the name out of her mouth, which she’d been avoiding saying it out loud for years. “Sergio…”

She doesn’t need to be an expert to realize she is affecting him as much as he is her. The way he closes his eyes briefly after hearing her voice, the way he holds his breath, is all she needs.

“What are you doing here?”

“I’m…” he starts but he can’t bring himself to continue. What could he possibly say to her? That he is sorry for not reaching out in the past twenty years? Twenty fucking years! He just stands there, looking at her like it is difficult for him to believe he is really talking to her.

“You are…?” Raquel asks, losing her patience over the fact that he has the nerve to show up after all these years, but doesn’t have the courage to say anything to her.

“I’m here for Monica, for her wedding obviously.” He laughs nervously. It may have been twenty years, but he still has a habit of laughing to try to cover his nervousness. “We ran into each other a few months ago, so she invited me to her wedding.” He adjusts his glasses in his own, unique way. “Then I saw you, sitting here all by yourself. Honestly, I knew you would be here, you are one of Monica’s best friends after all. In fact, I’ve been trying to work up the courage to come and talk to you, and finally, here I am.”

She continues to stare at him. Why didn’t Monica tell her about any of this? Maybe it is because they haven’t talked about him in such a long time? She is so lost in her thoughts that it takes her a few more seconds to realize he is calling her name.

“Raquel?” he tries to catch her eyes, trying to bring her back from her thoughts. Hearing her name from his lips has never felt so right and so wrong at the same time. She simply nods, letting him know that she is still listening.

“I’m honestly impressed that you found the courage in yourself in just a few hours when twenty years clearly wasn’t enough time for you,” she said without thinking, the anger she didn’t know she had, coming out in her words. She pauses for a few seconds, searching for Sergio’s reaction. He bows his head in shame, avoiding looking her in the eyes. She wraps her arms around herself as if she can protect herself from unspoken truths.

“Well, it is nice of you to come here. I’m not sure if you have already seen Monica but she is dancing over there with others, so…” _So maybe you can go and give me a break to breathe properly._

“I haven’t seen her yet, I had other priorities.” He takes a deep breath before speaking again.

“You are still the same,” he says in a low voice. It feels like he is telling it to himself more than to her. His hands are hanging by his side and he looks kind of defeated.

She wants to scream; she wants to tell him that she is not. She is far from the same person he left behind. She has so many questions that she is afraid of the answers. She simply stares into his eyes, trying to convey everything she wants to say, but before she can respond, he starts talking again.

“Actually, there is one thing that might have changed.”

He looks her in the eye this time, a small, sad, almost shy smile on his face. “I’m not sure you would defend me again if I were in trouble,” Sergio says, making her laugh involuntarily. That is definitely something she will never forget. She can’t help but get lost in the memories again. How could she not when someone who has been a big part of nearly her entire life is standing right in front of her, looking at her with those eyes.

_It had been only two weeks since she met Sergio, but he had already become one of her best friends. She was on her way to Sergio’s room when she met his father in the hallway. He said Sergio was in the garden, that he made him go outside and walk for a while since he was spending most of his time in his room. She was just turning the corner to search for Sergio when she spotted him in front of a wall with two boys surrounding him._

_“Hey! What’s going on?”_

_Sergio immediately looked up at Raquel “It’s okay, Raquel,” he tried to convince her, but she was not having any of it. She came closer to stand in front of Sergio, getting between him and one of the boys._

_“I didn’t know that four-eyed had a friend,” the boy in front of Raquel said, turning to his friend and making him laugh. What a stupid, stupid boy. Before answering, she looked over her shoulder to make sure Sergio was okay._

_“Go away, leave Sergio alone,” Raquel said determinedly._

_“Or what?” answered the boy, trying to get past Raquel to take Sergio’s glasses from him._

_The moment he tried to touch Sergio, she pushed him away angrily. “I said leave him alone!”_

_“Hey!” Sergio yelled when he saw that the boy was trying to push Raquel back. All of them got into a fight until someone came and broke them apart._

_After the two boys left, Sergio and Raquel turned to each other and asked, “Are you okay?” at the same time, making each other laugh._

_“Yeah, I am,” Raquel said as she leaned down to pick his glasses from the ground and give them back to him._

_“Thank you,” Sergio said shyly, accepting his glasses and putting them back on._

_“Damnit!” Raquel said suddenly. Then she stopped to look at Sergio for a second. “Don’t tell my mother I used that word.” Sergio immediately shook his head, assuring her that he wouldn’t even dare. She turned her attention to the ground and picked up her hairpin._

_“My hairpin is broken. It was my favourite,” Raquel said sadly while holding her broken hairpin shaped like a sea star in her hand._

_He was about to apologize and say that it was all his fault when his father called for him. He nodded to his father and started walking, Raquel following behind._

_“You owe me a hairpin,” was the last thing she said before they entered the building._

“I wasn’t there to save your ass these past years, but you survived, didn’t you?” Raquel says.

He nods, taking a step closer to her. “Exactly. I just… survived,” he responds in a low voice, almost whispering. By the way he says it and the way he looks at her, she knows that there is a deeper meaning behind his words.

Do not go there Raquel, don’t think about it, a voice repeats in her head.

“Why are you really here, Sergio?” They are too close now; so close that she can feel how fast his heart is beating. She can see her own reflection in his eyes. He keeps looking at her, without averting his gaze from her even for a second. He takes a deep breath, trying to say something when Raquel speaks again.

“Of all the places you could have chosen, of all the times you could have chosen to show up…” she says regretfully. Her eyes are asking him so many questions that she shouldn’t ask. It’s all in the past now, she tries to convince herself.

He averts his gaze for a few seconds, looking at the sea like the answer is laying over it. A sad smile appears on his face when he turns to her again.

“What can I say? It must be my destiny to see you at weddings.”

Before she gets the chance to ask what he’s talking about, they’re interrupted by Monica’s voice.

“Sergio! I can’t believe you are actually here!” she runs to him and pulls her old friend in for a hug.

They start talking but Raquel can’t hear anything, her mind refuses to focus on anything else than what he has just told her.

She repeats it over and over in her head.

_What can I say? It must be my destiny to see you at weddings._


End file.
